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July 30, 2006
scooter article
The Denver Post has an interesting, infuriating article on scooters called Scooter Nation: Scoot over, road hogs. Make vroom for "motorized bicyclists," who are driven by saving money and the environment..
This was written because Amerivespa and another nation scooter rally are happening in Denver this weekend.
First of all, motorized bicycles? WTF?
There are bicycles. There are electric-assist bicycles (these look like regular bicycles, but have a discreet throttle for the electric assist). There are mopeds (which are gas powered bicycles with a heavier body, sort of a cross between a bike and a scooter). A scooter is a motorcycle engine put into a cute frame designed for European housewives to do their shopping in their pencil skirts and high heels.
And then the whole saving money and the environment thing. No. Scooterists may want to save money. They may have environmentalist tendencies similar to the rest of the nation.
I know that there are tons of new scooters and scooterists out there, who are riding because it's cheaper gas-wise. I know this because I give them the secret scooterist-motorcyclist wave and get absolutely no response.
But, for the most part, old school scooterists scoot because it's a blast. (And real old school scooterists ride 2-strokes, which are really anything but environmentalist)
Yeah, it is cheaper for me to park at my fav garage downtown with the scooter. Yeah, it's cheaper gas wise. But it's hardly any hardship for me to scoot. And it's so much damn fun.
July 26, 2006
on hold
I'm more than a little frustrated this morning. I fell, tripped over some broken sidewalk, and skinned my knee.
This happened on Monday. Since then, my life has been all about my knee.
Monday, it swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. All I could think about was the pain. I iced it, it went down quite a bit.
Tuesday, it didn't hurt unless I moved it.
Today, there is a low-grade ache that is there all the time, and moving the leg, or heaven forbid, bending the knee -- excruciating! It is so no fair!
I am dying to be bicycling. It cooled way down on Tuesday, so it would have been perfect cycling weather. Same with today. But no, I'm on the bus, captive in a tin can of klutzy teenagers and cranky hipsters.
July 24, 2006
This is *so* not me
July 22, 2006
an evening on the river
Misty, of Athena Diaries, was in town the last couple days, and I was finally able to catch up with her last night. She is just as you might expect: a razor-sharp wit, very focused, funny and self-depreciating, so it was wonderful to hang out with her and her husband for a couple of hours.
We ended up at the waterfront, at Riverplace, at a restaurant called Three Degrees. They have some outside dining seating, and also some outside bar seating, where we ended up. They had these wooden rockers out on the deck, facing the river, very nice. I sat working on some fingerless gloves, looking at the river, drinking a decent beer, and some water that some shadowy figure miraculously kept refilled, and even though it was insanely hot, it was quite humane.
I always have a smidge of trepidation about meeting someone that I know online. I've become good friends with people I've met online, and the vast majority of folks I've met have been cool. All the running blogs have been great. But there are some freaks out there and I admit I've been burned.
I had no reason to worry about Misty, and we hit it off like old college chums, with no problems finding things to talk about. I appreciated that Misty kept asking me about some of my favorite things like bicycling in Portland, and the city of Portland, and social services in Portland. And Portland was on: everyone was out in the park, walking along the pathway: punk rockers, young people on dates, people dressed to the nines, muslim women with kids, folks coming from dragon boat practice with their paddles, and every possible "type" of bicyclist. It was beautiful. Too bad it was so damn hot.
I hope they come back soon!
Spilling over
It's 9:30 in the morning, we have fans in the window, and the house is 83 degrees. Outside, it's 80 degrees, so it's not bloody likely that we'll actually cool the house down.
Yesterday, Hillsboro (a west suburb) got up to 108. It's not supposed to get that hot today, but it's still going to get hot. Ugh.
So, I bought a new bike this week. It's the Trek t80 mentioned in the last post. I'm absolutely thrilled, but there's a learning curve involved with it. It's super light, it's got everything I need to commute short of a computer and a front basket, and it feels agile and fast. It's got thin road tires! I luff it.
But as you can see by the photo below, it's ugly. It's very dutch utility bike (which I like, it's dorky), and it's got this awful paint job. If I were vain, and I kinda am, I'd get it repainted. Or repaint it myself.
I'm avoiding talking about the learning curve, but here goes: I'm used to being solidly in the saddle and able to touch the ground with my toes. That ain't going to happen with this bike. And so, at this particularly ungainly part of my life I need to learn the hop onto the seat and the hop off the seat.
The morning I bought the bike, I spent about 20 minutes in a parking lot starting and stopping. Hopping off the bike feels completely out of control, but I do it fine. No problem. Hopping on is a 50/50 proposition. My sense of balance is just not what it used to be.
So I would straddle the bike. Place left foot on pedal. Try to rise up onto the seat. About half the time I'd tip, almost going down, feeling that bit of adrenaline as I lose control.
Anyways, suffice to say, I have a bit more compassion for other bicyclists who don't stop at stop signs. I have been almost completely unlawful since getting this bike. I don't like it, but there it is.
July 18, 2006
Commuter bike lust
The Trek T80 Navigator:
Great commuter bike?.... or greatest commuter bike?
Discuss :)
July 11, 2006
Dump!
I've had a good run of days lately. I've been bicycle commuting every day, and it's getting better. Really.
All the hills this morning: I never sank beneath 10mph. The Hawthorne Bridge, also never below 10mph. May I just say I rock? So maybe things are getting better.
I got asked this morning if my bike was an electric bike. People ask this because it says Electra on it -- the manufacturer of the bike. This morning, it was early on in the ride and I was not wearing my fat-slow-person chip, and so I was able to chat amiably about no, it's not an electric bike.
But there are times, too many times, where I get that question after I've been riding hard for 40 minutes and I'm running late, I'm trying not to pant because there are other cyclists there, and I get stopped at a light, and someone will ask. The fat-slow chip is big and mean and easily offended, because of course, this is all about me.
If nothing else, if I get another bike that isn't an electra, perhaps I won't be getting that question any longer.
...
I did go and look at the next-in-the-running bicycle over the weekend. I had a bit of sticker shock -- the bike was almost a thousand bucks, which was a quite a bit more than I had been planning to spend. It was a nice bike to be sure, and it rode well, but it seemed oddly compromised between the straight up style of the Townie, and the more aggressive bent-over roadie style.
....
I have been going through lots of stuff at the house. We did two dump runs over the weekend! Talk about invigorating! I love going to the dump, and I especially love hurling things off the truck. It's brilliant!
There is part of me who just wants to get stuff out of the house as soon as possible, and another part of me that thinks: Vj, you could sell those books, you could sell those CDs, you could consign that furniture. I'm caught between my old self, who would be looking to squeeze every penny out of this stuff, and my new self who just needs it gone NOW before I can change my mind.
July 5, 2006
weekend warrior
It's the day after the 4th of July, and you know what that means. I went back to work after listening to firecrackers firing all night, the animals freaking out, and I'm just not that into it. To make matters worse, I need to have my ears pressure-cleaned as everything sounds like it's happening in a galaxy far far away.
I had a good long weekend where I was a bit too much of a weekend warrior. But still, there appears to be no permanent damage, so hey.
Thursday, I did go to the gym and I did a double circuit on the lifecycle weight equipment. I did a couple of chin-ups too, and I figured I might ache a bit for a couple of days. That actually lasted through Sunday!
Friday, I ended up going into work in the morning to finish up some stuff. I walked in, which was so humane, so very pleasant. Though it was odd: as I was crossing the Steel pedestrian bridge, I came upon a wounded rat. It was still alive, and it couldn't move.
I left work shortly before noon and rode the bike into Hollywood and got my hair done. Then I rode into Irvington to see Career Dude. and then home.
Saturday morning, I decided to walk 9 miles. I thought about doing it with PFit, but it just didn't thrill me, so I ended up walking from the house through Irvington, Lloyd, Buckman, Ladd, and Brooklyn... basically from Williams & Fremont to Holgate & Milwaukie. It started off wonderfully: no one was out, the air was cool, there were lots of trees, but I made the mistake of stopping for breakfast on the way back, and time ground to a halt. Suddenly it was hot, there was traffic, and I was tired. I made the whole distance, and I happily took a cold bath, and then I slept the whole afternoon away.
Which is my body's way of going, WTF were you thinking, exactly?
The rest of the weekend was a little lower-key: cleaning, decluttering, hanging out with my loved ones, some biking around. It was pretty great.
